Ep. 50: Haley Marie McClain Hill: From Air Force Valor to Shark Tank Victory | Embarking on the Entrepreneurial Odyssey

Have you ever wondered how the discipline of military service can shape a fearless entrepreneur? Haley Marie McClain Hill, an Air Force Veteran and Shark Tank champion, joins us to share her extraordinary transformation from serving the country to leading the business world. Her insights are not just a tale of personal triumph but a guiding light for anyone navigating the shift from uniform to the uncertainty of startups. We talk about the adrenaline rush of national TV success and the critical role of female leadership, offering a new definition of success that goes beyond the bottom line to include authenticity and positive impact.
 
Approaching life's hurdles with the right frame of mind can be the difference between faltering and flourishing. This episode peels back the layers on how to turn challenges into stepping stones, using the power of positive affirmations and a love for the grind to propel us forward. I share bits of my life outside the microphone, like my hidden musical flair and current reads, connecting with you on a level that's more than just business. We also unpack strategies to stay composed under pressure, using breathwork and a fearless belief in our own preparedness.

Finally, we tackle the nuanced dance of entrepreneurship, balancing the wisdom of mentors with the trust in our gut instincts. Haley and I examine how to embrace constructive feedback, set up collaborative trial runs, and brush aside the negativity that doesn't serve our growth. We even indulge in a whimsical scenario of a cheerleading movie to remind us all that a dash of humor is vital on this rollercoaster ride of building a business. As we close the chapter on another enlightening discussion, I encourage our listeners to share the episode, engage with our community, and support the visionaries like Haley who are lighting the way for future trailblazers.

Conversation:
00:00 – Intro
Haley McClain Hill Martin, thank you so much for having me. This is awesome. I love the synergy within our brands and I'm just excited to be here.

04:57 On Why Life is Great Right Now
Haley Marie McClain Hill Life is so great right now because now I feel like after Shark Tank, I have an opportunity to really leverage the exposure and to do some really awesome stuff for the brand. Like we are looking to book a really big military influencer to come into the brand and I just think having the reputation of Shark Tank, there's just a lot of doors that are about to be open. So I'm just excited for the opportunities for the brand and what we're going to do in 2024.

6:24 On if society should revise the definition of success and how it's achieved
Haley Marie McClain Hill I think the more and more people lean into their authenticity, the better. So, whether that is defining success, whether that is your fashion, whether that is how you present yourself in any way, the more authentic you can be, the better, because then you can find your tribe and then you can feel fulfilled. And it's more about you being in alignment with your best self, and I truly do believe that success just comes along with living in alignment.

7:09 Advice for recognizing opportunities in front of you
Haley Marie McClain Hill Well, I listen to my gut. I hate to say it, but your intuition is usually right. If you have that good feeling, somebody kind of comes to you, messages you bump into somebody. I always like to take every opportunity and at least be open to it. So I'll just listen. I'm very much of an observant person. I try to listen less more than I talk. Listen, and then I will kind of see what my future goals are. And if it's not an alignment, then I just respectfully decline. And if it is, then I just go for it, even if it's challenging, even if it's a little scary like, for example, I'm preparing to do a TED Talk in March, so I'm really excited about that but it's one of those things where it's definitely going to step up outside my comfort zone. So I would say if there's an opportunity that feels an alignment and also challenges, you go for it.

11:00 On how someone can replace their limited beliefs and confidence in favor of creating an empowered inner dialogue that ignites a success mindset
Haley Marie McClain Hill Oh, I love this question, Martin. So, first things first. It's going to take some practice, but whether you're doing an activity that you love or you feel like you're not, you know there's like, let's just say, working out, for example. If you are working out and in the back of your head you're constantly saying this is so hard, I'm so tired, this is brutal. Oh my gosh, I don't even want to be doing this right now. How good is your workout going to be? It's going to be brutal.

So there is a psychology. Basically, if you tell your brain just like this is what I just started doing, even if you say I love this, I love this, I love this, that's the same response your brain is going to have. The same response is if you say to yourself I love this, I love this, I love this. So it doesn't really matter how like enthusiastic you are when I'm working out or if I'm doing something that's challenging to me, I just immediately identify the negative, limiting beliefs that I put on myself like this is so hard, I can't do this. I identify it and obviously we're all human, so they're going to come up. But I just identify it and just slowly shift yourself into just saying I love this, I choose this, and it doesn't even have to be with enthusiasm, so I'll literally be working out, I'll be like I love this, I love this, I love this, I love this, but it still gets me better, gets me through it better.

So I was just saying just those little mindset shifts. So I love this, I choose this. This is good for me. Saying those things when you're going after your goals. And the next thing I would say is, like when you're going after your goals, again, there's going to be so many challenges, but you want to almost shift your thinking into this is bigger than myself. Like I think we get kind of in our own heads, oh, people are looking at me, or this comparison, whatever, blah, blah. You have to think about this is bigger than you. If you're a parent, if you're part of a team, if you're a leader, do it for the group, be that person and you will get the strength from your community. And that's kind of what's helped me kind of have more of a successful mindset because it's I'm doing it for others, it's not just about me, it's doing it for others and helping others.

14:35 TWO PART Question: Giving a TED Talk for something in which she is not known for. Also, advice for handling pressure when expectations continue to rise
Haley Marie McClain Hill Well, okay, I did play the flute, back in high school. I feel like it would be that, or it would be like the importance of reading. I'm a big reader, I love to read, right now it’s Good to Great.

(HANDLING PRESSURE) Yeah, I've tweaked this for my TED Talk but I think breathwork is really important. I mean, it's as simple as that. Right before I went on Shark Tank, I was doing all the breathwork. I'm going to kind of walk through that in my presentation, so that's pretty basic. But then I would say, if it wasn't, you wouldn't even have the opportunity, if you weren't ready for it. I think that's a mindset that I'd like to have, because you, I keep putting myself in situations and I keep setting these higher goals and I'm like I don't know if I'm able to do this. I don't really have anybody leading the way for me. I'm kind of trying to trailblaze my own path and I just keep telling myself, whenever I get in these situations, if I wasn't ready for this, I wouldn't even be here. So I just I'm like, well, we're just going to go for it.

17:58 Filtering to know which perspectives are worth listening to
Haley Marie McClain Hill Oh, I love this question. I was just in a situation where it kind of happens a lot as entrepreneurs, people want to know about your business and they want to give you all this advice. And I think at the end of the day, again, it's kind of a gut feeling when you're just like, again, I observe and I listen and I let people kind of talk themselves into either a hole or talk themselves into a situation where I'm like all right, that actually kind of makes sense. So, again, I don't think you should shut down anybody, or an ideas right off the bat. You give people the opportunity and I like to say, give people like trial runs. I'm like, okay, you have an idea, you come to me, let's talk about it and let's kind of maybe work on one project together, let's see how that works. And then, if it feels good if there were results, and it was great, awesome. But if it's not, and there isn't anything that comes out of it, I think it's just very experimental and just have to kind of go with your gut.

When you're like I just didn't even like the feeling of working with this person or whatever, this advice didn't work or whatever. It's just taking like little bite sized things from people and going from there. I know you know, but eventually you're going to feel like this doesn't really make any sense. It's not working for me. So you kind of have to have your goals in your head. This is really what I'm feeling aligned with. But you can't be so stuck on your own goals that you can't take any of anybody's advice. So have your plan, have specific plans, allow people to help you with that and then be open to it. And if it's working, it'll continue to grow. But again, have trial periods with people that this just isn't feeling right.

20:23 Tips for not only growing from criticism, but growing from it
Haley Marie McClain Hill Oh, my goodness, I mean you should look at my comment sections right now, Martin, from people absolutely railing me, it just random people with no faces on Instagram.

Literally, I'm just like what are these people doing? It's funny because Patrick Mahomes' wife you know they're in the Super Bowl. She was in Sports Illustrated in swimsuit and the caption was I take criticism as a compliment. It was just such a savage comment to say like as a woman too, I feel like we're always very like critical of ourselves. But I kind of love that because I feel like if you're not doing anything that is like impactful, I mean it's not going to be easy. So you have to look at it as if those 30% of people are taking the time out of their day to be nasty. They clearly have other things, because it's like for me as a person, I don't have time for bs. To be hating on other people, I don't have time for any of that. I know what type of person I am and that's the people I like to keep around me. None of the people who have criticized me are part of my circle.

So if something's, it's like coming from people you don't care about, I mean it just is what it is, like you got to just leave it and even maybe clap back, make it funny, but don't take things personally, because Everybody's living their life, everybody has their things. Just to realize that we're all human and we're all figuring things out, and I feel bad for the people who actually take the time to do that. So just realize that you're on a different path and not everyone's going to love that for you and that's okay and that's normal and that's just human. So lean into the 90% of people who are cheering you on, though, like you Martin you know, really focus on the positive. It's just so awesome because if you focus on it, you realize just how blessed you truly are and the support that's been for Torch, meeting people like you, like it cancels out all the bs.

23:30 If there were a giant billboard with her picture and message on it for the world to see, where would she place the billboard and what would the message say?
Haley Marie McClain Hill You know, let's stick with the Super Bowl, because I'm here in Vegas and so many people watch this thing and I know so many military people do as well. I'm going to say for my brand. I'm very entrepreneurial focus right now. It's going to be very focused on putting Torch and I think it's going to say something like the good marketing exercise, something like welcome to your fearless girl era or something like that. I don't know, we have that kind of on our website now, but I just feel like it's like we are a door to women being so fired up and fearless, and I just want them to feel that when they wear our products. So, welcome to your fearless.

More resources from Haley Marie McClain Hill:
Website: https://haleymcclainhill.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/iam_haleymarie/?hl=en
Torch Warrior Wear: https://torchwarriorwear.com/
TORCHTALKS podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/torchtalks/id1713820090

Books and People mentioned:
Michelle Curran MACE
Carey Kight
Ben Garland
Book Good To Great by Jim Collins
Shark Tank
Patrick Mahomes

Quote: “When you are action driven and fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire – you will find you can accomplish everything you put your mind to.”

My Links
Podcast: https://www.passingthetorchpod.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC04suOPTX3ny_M0aDxmBAXQ Twitter: https://twitter.com/pttorch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torchmartin/